Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
7th International Conference on Research in Education, Çanakkale, Türkiye, 27 - 29 Nisan 2017, ss.222
The purpose of the current study is to investigate Turkish eight grade students’ difficulties and misconceptions
regarding the notion of a variable. By utilizing survey design, the data will be collected from 100 eight grade
students attending two different public schools through a diagnostic test developed by Lucariello, Tine, and
Ganley (2014). Of the 9 multiple choice items, the first three items are about whether the students have any
misunderstanding that a variable can be ignored. The following three items are about students’ misunderstanding
that a variable is a label for an object. Finally, the last three items are about the erroneous understanding of
students that a variable is a specific unknown, rather than that it can hold for varying values. By utilizing a
descriptive analysis approach, tables showing frequencies of students’ answers will be constructed for different
types of misconceptions that the students have. For further analysis of the results, the researcher will conduct an
interview with 10 students regarding their answers. It is expected that the results will reveal some of the most
common misconceptions reported in the literature such as “a variable can be ignored, a variable is a label for an
object, and a variable is a specific unknown” that Turkish students in eight grade would also have. The results
would help to critically examine instructional materials and teaching practices in middle grades and guide
teachers in building an instruction to cope with such misconceptions before students are formally introduced
with the concept of functions in nineth grade which requires a solid understanding of the notion of variables.
Anahtar Kelimeler : algebra, misconception, variable, middle school students